Passing or the Nebraska Pioneer - 1920

These obituaries are compiled largely from death notices printed in newspapers which are received and kept on file by the Historical Society. While the sketches have been carefully edited, it has been impossible to avoid and correct all inaccuracies.

The lives of some subjects of the obituaries were of unusual public interest, and in such cases the sketches have been duly amplified. Statements of fact, particularly those which are of record, have been verified as far as practicable. Obviously, it is very desirable that these records which will always be used for reference, should be correct, and surviving relatives and editors of local newspapers should carefully cooperate in preventing errors.

Mrs. Phoebe Ellen Young Stafford, born in Mills County, Iowa, August 11th, 1853, died December 25th at Clarinda, Iowa; came with parents to Cass County in 1855.

Mrs. Elizabeth Lebs Schmid, wife of Jacob Schmid, Platte County, resident of Nebraska since 1867, died January 1st.

Mrs. Marie Antoinette Newberry Filley, resident of Auburn, Nebraska, in the early sixties, died in Portland, Oregon, January 1st.

Gus B. Speice, born in Columbus, Nebraska, July 16, 1864, died January 4th; son of Charles A. and Katherine Becker Speice, pioneers of Platte county; was active in business and political life; held the offices of clerk of the district court, mayor, and city treasurer.

Mrs. Sarah Waite, Beatrice, died January 5th; settled at Brownville, Nebraska, in October, 1867.

John Rhoden, Dixon County, pioneer of 1856, died January 5th.

Mrs. Martha Nicholson Thorp, Nebraska City, died January 6th; married to Edwin F. Thorp, October 19, 1862; in 1863 moved to Nebraska City.

William Henry Kerns, resident of Nebraska since 18 67, died in Table Rock, January 6th.

James T. Munson, resident of Lancaster County since 1866, died January 8th.

Mrs. Rosina Uhlig, Falls City, died January 8th; settled in Nemaha County in 1857.

Mrs. Achte Margaretha Neemann, resident of Otoe County since 1862, died January 9th.

Aaron Wilson, pioneer of Burt County in 1866, died in Tacoma, Washington, January 9th.

Mrs. Casper K. Yost, resident of Omaha since 1866, died in Long Beach, Cal., about January 16th.

Mr. Yost died November 22, 1920. He was the principal founder of the Nebraska Telephone Company, and when he retired from business, in 1919, he was president of the company and also of the Iowa Telephone Company and the Northwestern Telephone Exchange Company.

Mrs. Bridget Bourke, resident of Nemaha County since 1862, died January 10th.

Mrs. Mary Costin a resident of Nebraska since 1857, died at her home near Gothenburg, January 11th.

James McKenna, 85 years old, resident of Omaha since 1865, died January 11th.

Mrs. Anna Marie Ramseyer, daughter of Rev. William Hamilton, noted missionary to the Indians, died about January 11th, in Missouri Valley, Iowa.

Father Hamilton, as he was commonly called, was a missionary among Indians of the west-of-the-Missouri plains during the larger part of his life. He was a teacher at the Sauk and Fox mission, Great Nemaha agency, from 1841 to 1853, when he became superintendent of the Crow and Omaha mission on separate reservations, remained until these tribes were placed on separate reservations, in 1855. He was superintendent of the Omaha mission under the patronage of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, from July, 1867, until 1869, when the mission was superseded by the new policy through which the Indian agencies were put under control of the several religious denominations, those in Nebraska falling to the Society of Friends.

John S. Ellison, a farmer for fifty-five years near Liberty, Nebraska, died January 13th.

Mrs. Mary Buskirk, resident of Cass County, near Murdock for fifty-three years, died January 15th.

Claudius P. Douglass died at his home near Melba, Platte County, January 16th; freighted from Nebraska City to Fort Laramie in 1866; settled permanently in Nebraska in 1883.

Joseph William Martin, born in Pawnee County, Nebraska, November 8, 1867, died January 18th; graduated from the college of medicine of the University of Nebraska in 1903.

Peter Freese died in Nebraska City January 19th; said to have been fireman on the first train that ran from Nebraska City to Lincoln on the Midland Pacific railroad; was an engineer in the employ of that railroad for many years; and a resident of Nebraska from 1866.

Barney Mullen, aged eighty-three years, resident of Nebraska since 1860, died at Shreveport, Louisiana, January 23rd; enlisted for service in .the Civil War in the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, Company C, September 3, 1861; was mustered out at Nashville, December 16, 1865. After the war he resumed farming near Stella and left an estate of 108 acres in Richardson County.

Mrs. Hannah M. Beatty, resident of Johnson County since 1860, died January 24th.

Peter E. Her, resident of Omaha since 1866, died January 25th; engaged in the wholesale liquor business until 1902; president of the Willow Springs distillery and leader in anti-prohibition movements, was one of the promoters of the Omaha Stock Yards company; organized with others the South Omaha Land company; built many substantial buildings in Omaha among which was the Her Grand Hotel. Mr. Her was a very influential citizen of Omaha.

Enoch W. Bline died January 26th in Omaha; crossed the plains in 1849; resided permanently in Nebraska since 1866.

Eli Plummer, Lincoln, died January 27th; born November 1835; settled in Plattsmouth in March 1863; engaged in the Wholesale grocery business in Lincoln in 1879; had a large part in the development of Lincoln.

Mrs. Emily Jane Conover Deweber, resident of Nebraska, 1859, died at her home near Pawnee City January 28th.

Mrs. Margaret Jane Strop Wise died at Heartwell, J______ 28th; came to Nebraska in 1867.

Mrs. Martha Jane Brown Selby, resident of Nebraska 1865, died January 28th in Wauneta.

Augustus Lockner, resident of Nebraska since 1866, died in Omaha January 29th. Mr. Lockner was a soldier of the Civil war and also aided in guarding General Dodge and his party against Indians during the building of the Union Pacific railroad.

John Stevenson, resident of Florence and Omaha since ____ died January 29th; Born in Scotland; came with his father, Ader Stevenson, to Florence in July 1856.

Henry Schmidt, a member of the firm of Fred Schmid & Brother, and a resident of Lancaster County for over fifty years, died January 29th.

William G. Hail, born in Nebraska City, July 23, 1856, C. C. and Susan Hail, died January 30th in Omaha.

Mrs. Elizabeth Catherine McCorkle Wiles, who settled in _____ County in 1856, died January 31st. She was the mother of two sons and four daughters.

Mrs. William Daily, resident of Auburn and Nemaha since 1861; died February 5th. Mother of Mrs. A. K. Goudy, state superintendent 1891-95.

Elmer E. Davis, native of Colfax County, born November 1860, died February 5th.

W. L. E. Green, Independent, died February 5th; resided in Nebraska for fifty-four years.

Miss Margaret L. McCheane, Omaha, died February 5th in Long Beach, California; came to Omaha with her parents in 1857; third woman employed by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in 1873 and was retired with a pension in 1909.

Mrs. Johanna Haney, resident of Platte County in 18_6, died February 6th at her home near Richland.

V. W. Darling, ninety-three years old, a resident of Nebraska for sixty-five years, died in Auburn, February 7th.

Milton M. Harney, resident of Burt County since 1857, January 10th; in 1862 enlisted in the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry and on the western frontier to protect the settlers from Indians.

Richard Dunning, born in Richardson County, July 3, 18__ died at his home in Indianola, February 11th.

Daniel D. Johnson, Scottsbluff, died February 11th; born in Crawford, Pennsylvania, in 1843; removed to Iowa and enlisted for service in the Civil Company A 29th Iowa Volunteers.

George W. Brown, a resident of Otoe County before 18 years, died February 15th.

Mrs. Mary Cummings, eighty-six years old, resident of Nebraska since 1865, died February 15th.

Mrs. Lucy Helen Glover Tower, resident of Nebraska, died at her home in Lincoln, February 17th.

William Blair, a soldier of the Civil War, died February in Brainard where he had lived since 1867.

Michael Brannen died in Auburn, February 21; settled Nebraska City in 1855; enlisted for service in the Civil War Missouri regiment of infantry; at the close of the war returned to Nebraska, settling at St. Deroin, later lived at Shubert. Mrs. Brannen died on February 26th. She had endured all the hardships of life on the western frontier and was with her husband at the time he was campaigning with the Union army in Kansas, one child born at that time.

Mrs. W. Albert Heikes, resident of Dakota City since 18 years, died February 21st.

James Firmon Harris, soldier of the Civil War, resident Nebraska since 1866, died in Hildreth, February 22nd.

William H. Turner, who freighted between Omaha and in the sixties and helped to build the Union Pacific railroad Wyoming, died in Fremont February 27th; came to Nebraska in 1859.

Mrs. Cornelia Olson, who settled on a farm five miles Herman in 1866, where she had since resided, died March 2.

T. M. Wimberly of University Place, resident of Nebraska almost sixty years, died March 7th.

Lewis H. Laflin, soldier of the Civil War, died at his farm residence near Crab Orchard, March 7th, where he had settled in 1857; served three years in Company I, First Regiment I Volunteers (afterward First Nebraska Cavalry and First 1 Nebraska Veteran Volunteers); member of the Nebraska House of Representatives of 1873, and held many offices in Johnson County.

August Stark, pioneer Cuming County in 1803, died March 8th.

Horace Dutton, Dakota City, resident of Nebraska for years, died March 8th; was a member of Company D, First Cavalry in the Civil War; was noted for the fact that although he had four years active service in the war he was never know to tell a war story.

Mrs. J. W. Newell, resident of Nebraska since 1862, died in Blair, March 8th.

Francis Henry Yager, pioneer Otoe County since 1864, died in Nebraska City, March 8th. Mrs. Yager died April 3, 1919 after they had celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.

Mrs. Mary S. Shannon, who came with her husband to Nebraska in 1859, died in Pawnee City March 9th.

Frank Maly, resident of Nebraska since 1866, died at his home near Crofton, March 10th.

Mrs. Eliza Reeves, a teacher in Otoe County in 1866, died in Alliance, March 10th.

John Volkhardy, born in Germany in 1835, died March 10th in Nebraska City where he had settled in 1864; participated in the Civil War toward its close.

Mrs. Matilda Sides, ninety-five years old died at her farm residence near Dakota City, where she had lived for fifty-five years, coming to Nebraska in 1865. Her husband died January 3, 1909, after which Mrs. Sides lived alone and looked after her household affairs with faculties unimpaired until within a few days of her death.

Mrs. Marian Dripps Barnes who was born at Bellevue, Nebraska, November 15, 1827, died in Barneston, March 11th. She was the daughter of Major Andrew Dripps and his wife, Ma-com-ph-mie, an Oto woman. Major Dripps was an agent of the American Fur Company and was in charge of the frontier post at Bellevue. Mrs. Barnes was educated in the Convent of the Visitation at Kaskaakla, Illinois, and in 1856 was married to Francis M. Barnes, founder of the town of Barneston.

Mathias Schmuecker, who came to Nebraska with his mother and her family by ox team in the fifties, died at his home in Cuming County, near St. Charles, March 16th.

Mrs. Elizabeth LaGourge, who settled in Gage County in 1854, died in Beatrice March 21st.

John Henry Dundas, for fifty-seven years a resident of Nemaha County, died at Auburn March 22nd; born in Kane County. Illinois, in 1846; married March 29. 1871, to Wealthy J. Bishop: entered journalism in 1884, when he purchased the Nebraska Republican; two years later purchased The Granger which he continued to edit and publish until five years ago; was senator from his (second) district in the legislature of 1897; a member of the People's Independent Party and was a leader in antimonopoly and prohibition movements.

Frederick Wohlenberg, a resident of Lincoln since 1867, died March 26th.

Robert S. Sackley, resident of Nebraska since the early sixties, died in Syracuse, March 27th.

Elisha McGuire, pioneer Nebraskan, 1857, died in _____ March 27th; was a stage driver in 1850-60; served eleven months in the Civil War, in Company B, Second Regiment Nebraska C Volunteers.

Christopher Brinkman, soldier of the Civil War, pioneer Nebraskan, in 1866, died at Newman Grove, March 29th.

Hans Obermiller, who settled in Grand Island in 1867, died March 29th.

George Grant, resident of DeWitt since 1858, died March.

Hans Obermiller, resident of Nebraska since 1862, died about March 31st.

Elijah Filley, resident of Gage County since 1867, died Beatrice March 31st. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the legislature of 1881, and a senator in the legislature 1883; and was active in agricultural organizations.

Jack Peniska, Ponca Indian scout, veteran of the Civil War, buried March 31st on the Ponca Indian Reservation, Military services were held by the Niobrara post of the American Legion which the tribal ceremony was conducted by the Indians.

Mrs. E. K. Brosius, born at St. James, Nebraska, in 185 at Rapid City, South Dakota, March 29th.

George E. Grant, pioneer of 1858 in Gage County, died 30th.

Nathan Albert Wickham, pioneer of Richardson County, died at Salem, April 1st.

Preston Keiser, resident of Nebraska since 1865, died in Humboldt, April 2nd.

Alexander Hamilton Baker, resident of Dakota County forty-five years, died April 2nd at his home near Dakota City; born in Chautauqua County, New York, December 22nd, 1835.

Jesse Davis, who came by ox team to Nemaha County, died in Weeping Water, April 3rd.

Mrs. Eunice Bennett Griffith, who settled on a farm in _____ County in 1867, died in York April 10th.

Mrs. James Monroe Parker, who came to Nebraska, with her husband by prairie schooner in 1863, died in Omaha the 11th.

Ellen Beardshear, resident of Dakota County since 1858, Dakota City April 13th.

Mrs. Elizabeth Spence, who came to Nebraska in 1866, her home in Glendale precinct April 13th.

Victor Walliam Miller, resident of LaPlatte since 185_ died April 14th.

Philip Bendernagel who came to Nebraska City by ox train in 1866 died on April 15th at Beatrice where he had lived.

William Henderson Moore, resident of Otoe County in 185_ in Plattsmouth, April 15th. At the age of fourteen he was _____ Majors, Russell and Waddell as a bullwhacker and made some trips across the plains.

Sidney Herbert Stebbins, a resident of Pawnee City, died April 16th.

Mrs. Gratzie Stuhr, who settled in Douglas County, died in Omaha, April 18th.

Mrs. L. J. Griffith, pioneer of Cass County in 1867, died ____ 19th.

Auguste Quante, pioneer and freighter, resident of Nebraska since 1866, died in Brock, April 23rd.

Thomas Newton Tolle, resident of Nebraska City since ____, died April 23rd.

William Granville Cunningham, a freighter across the plains the early sixties, died at Blair April 24th; had been a resident of Nebraska since 1860.

Francis X. Dellone, noted Catholic pioneer of Omaha sine died April 26th.

Timothy Murphy, Dakota County pioneer since 1867, resident of Dakota City April 26th.

Mary Dolan, who homesteaded near Wahoo in 1858, died in Plainview on April 30th.

Thomas C. Kimsey, resident of Nemaha County in 1857, died in Benkelman on April 30th.

Dora Sophia Krantz, a resident of Nebraska since 1866, died 1st at her home near Sterling.

Zenas Stevens, who freighted with ox teams from Omaha, Lake City and Denver, a resident of Omaha since 1860, died ____ 3rd.

Mrs. John W. Hazelgrove, who came to Nebraska in 1860, died at South Sioux City May 3rd.

Mrs. Burton H. Shoemaker, resident of Nebraska since ____, died in Lincoln on May 4th.

Gerrit H, Wehmer, who came with his parents to Nebraska in 1862, died near Sterling on May 10th.

Duane Brown, who resided in Washington County from ____ to 1918, died at the home of his daughter in Bloomfield on Ma___, ____.

Henry Martyn Kemp died in Schuyler, Nebraska, May __, born in England, October 10, 1823; came from Michigan to in a prairie schooner in 1858.

Michael Johnson, a highly respected pioneer citizen of County since 1859, died May 16th.

Jonathan Martin, born near .Fall River, Mass., July 21 died at Martinsburg, Nebraska, on May 18th; same to Nebr. 1867; was the founder of the town of .Martinsburg.

Mrs. Charles J. Karbach, a resident of Omaha for sixty years, died May 19th; Mr. Karbach came to Omaha in ______.

Nebraska AHGP

Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days, Volume III, January-March, 1920 Number 1, Editor, Addison E. Sheldon, Published Quarterly by the Nebraska State Historical Society, 1920.

Nebraska Links

Hosted Free

Please stop by again!!

This page was last updated

Back to AHGP